Mortal Sins

Archbishop Trifa agrees to go

In the end, the archbishop simply threw in the towel. Since 1975, Valerian Trifa, head of the 35,000-member Rumanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, has faced Justice Department charges that during World War II he led an anti-Semitic group in Rumania and incited riots that led to the deaths of hundreds of Christians and Jews. In 1980, the archbishop gave up his U.S. citizenship, acquired in 1957, rather than face trial on the allegations. Last week in Detroit, in the midst of a deportation trial that was to air the charges, the prelate abruptly agreed to leave the U.S. Justice dropped charges that he persecuted Jews, but in return Trifa, 68, admitted that he had been a member of the Iron Guard, a fascist organization that was dedicated to driving Jews out of Rumania.

Trifa's main accuser was Charles Kremer, a retired New York City dentist who lost family members in a 1941 riot in Bucharest. Kremer, now 84, has been trying to get U.S. officials to prosecute Trifa for 30 years. Last week, when the deportation agreement was read, Kremer was sitting in the Detroit courtroom.

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